Inadvertant IMC

On May 23, 11:50 am, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
<mschnerdatcarolina.> wrote:
[hairy story of cloud punching snipped]

Well it's not nearly as hairy as that story, but last week I flew to
Ceday Key (KCDK) with my son (20 years old, last fling before shipping
out to Alaska with the Army). It was a clear morning, a little hazy,
probably 20 miles vis. We landed, had lunch went on a boat tour, etc.
Come 2PM and we're ready to depart and the haze has increased
significantly. There's no visible sun. We took off out over the Gulf
(runway 23) and by the time I was 1500 feet up the horizon was gone. I
turned back toward land and started home. Mind you, we were legal -
vis was probably 5 miles, and I never lost sight of the ground, but
with no horizon over the water it was sobering. I'm already working on
my instrument ticket so my heart rate stayed pretty calm. (My son went
to sleep. I guess that's a complement.) By the time we were 20 miles
inland the visibility had gone back up to 10-15 miles, so it was no
big deal, but I can see how that haze can just gradually close down
until - whoops! I'm in IMC.

John
PP-ASEL

On May 23, 8:19 am, gatt <ad...@livefromtheclocktower.us> wrote:
> Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:

> But it wouldn't be worth anything if he hadn't had training on flying
> solely by reference to instruments, which is exactly why it's taught in
> primary training.

As a CFI I really question the value of the "reference to instrument
(not instrument)" training we are required to give to privates. The
fact that it takes so many hours for an instrument student to be able
to fly in the clouds tells you that a few hours as a private isn't
going to help much. In addition, instrument flying ability degrades
very, very fast. I would guess that if a private pilot got into IMC
more than 3 months since his "reference to instruments" training he
probably wouldn't stand a chance. Personally I think students would
benefit from more time working with crosswind landings.

-Robert, CFII